Danger Dust

Air pollution forced nearly 200 schools in Bangkok to close on Thursday, local authorities said, as officials urged people to work from home and restricted heavy vehicles in the city.

A team of academic researchers, lawyers and journalists from 16 European countries has exposed a huge lobbying campaign aimed at gutting a proposed EU-wide restriction on the use of “forever chemicals”. This campaign saw significant increases in the lobbying expenditure of major producers of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), known as forever chemicals for their persistence in the environment.

Workers were incentivised to continue using vibrating tools

Carbon particles are degraded by nitrogen dioxide and oxygen

Biomass losses could be reduced through improved rehabilitation efforts post-mining.

Bladder cancer has a cure rate of over 90% when detected early, but it has a high recurrence rate of 70%, necessitating continuous monitoring. Late detection often requires major surgeries, such as bladder removal followed by artificial bladder implantation or the use of a urine pouch, significantly lowering the patient's quality of life.

Different cannabis consumption methods can produce varied psychoactive effects, which makes it difficult to establish comparable doses across products

Through their research, the HKU team discovered that the protein PICH acts like a radar, detecting these UFBs and helping to resolve them.

Findings reveal that nearly 25% of the U.S. population may be exposed to radon concentrations exceeding 148 Bq/m3, a level associated with cancer risks.

The World Health Organization regrets the announcement that the United States of America intends to withdraw from the Organization.

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) may occur after infection. How often people develop ME/CFS after SARS-CoV-2 infection is unknown.

A similar phenomenon, albeit rarer, is chrysiasis, in which gold deposits infiltrate the skin. Historically, gold-based therapies were occasionally prescribed for inflammatory disorders, and in some cases, patients who received these treatments developed a distinctive slate-grey or grey-purple discolouration that, much like argyria, could not be easily undone.

Each of us is home to over 30 trillion bacteria that cover every inch of our bodies, from our gut and skin to our lungs and eyelashes. This complex and dynamic ecosystem is the microbiome, and it plays a crucial role in digesting food, protecting against infections and supporting the immune system.

In Short

Patients suffering with some condition (for example, osteoarthritis) are recruited and randomly assigned to get either surgery or sham surgery.

People with post-infectious diseases sometimes struggle to communicate the debilitating impact of their conditions. But a new technique can help them explain visually

The UK weather service said Friday that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere in 2024 grew at the fastest annual rate on record, exceeding their own projections by some margin.

The pandemic saw conspiracy theorists, "alternative medicine" enthusiasts, politicians and even some doctors and researchers make or amplify false information about vaccines or COVID.

"There's a lot of nasty stuff that gets put out there when you burn a house or a car, or electronics," she said. "Where does it go?"

How could a trip to the hairdresser turn into a health emergency? Research suggests that sitting at an awkward angle at the backwash basins used for hair washing in many salons can cause neck pain, injury and – on very rare occasions – even a life-threatening stroke.

The number of silica-exposed workers in India is projected to grow from 11.5 million in 2015-16 to 52 million by 2025-26, with prevalence rates reaching as high as 79 percent in Rajasthan’s stone mining sector and 69 percent in Gujarat’s agate industry. This rising burden highlights the urgent need for stronger occupational health policies and improved worker protections to mitigate the impact of silicosis.

Silicosis

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published a new guide for people fabricating and installing stone worktops. This guidance is designed to remind dutyholders and workers about the need to ensure that suitable procedures and controls are in place to help protect against exposure to stone dust and prevent workers breathing in respirable crystalline silica (RCS).

The study presented a novel approach to understanding the associations between air pollution, fertilization, and embryo quality by evaluating the independent associations between maternal and paternal air pollution exposure at times when a female's ovaries are producing eggs (also known as oocytes) and when a male's testicles are producing sperm.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expected to announce by Friday whether it will continue to allow paraquat, an herbicide suspected of causing Parkinson’s disease, to be sprayed on U.S. crops. Use of the weed killer has recently soared in the United States, but it is banned in more than 70 other countries.

Tick-borne diseases accounted for 77% of all vector-borne disease reports in the USA from 2004 to 2016, and 82% of these reported tick-borne disease cases were Lyme disease.

Yes, indeed. The world turns out to be home to hundreds — perhaps thousands — of species of venomous caterpillars, and at least a few of them pack a punch toxic enough to kill or permanently injure a person. That alone is reason for scientists to study them. But caterpillars also contain a potential windfall of medically useful compounds within their toxic secretions.

A new study shows distinct effects of neonicotinoid pesticide exposure in different bumble bee body parts, explaining why pesticides have diverse harmful effects and highlighting the need for more sensitive safety testing.

Erasmus syndrome is a rare entity in which silicosis may accompany systemic scleroderma was defined in 1957 by Erasmus.

The trial enrolled 2,041 family members of people with drug-resistant TB. These family members had early infection, which had not yet developed into the active form of drug-resistant TB. The study was conducted across 10 provinces in Vietnam, a country with a high rate of drug-resistant TB.

In this study, we conducted a comprehensive serological and cellular analysis of patients with autoimmune systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) who received the Wuhan-Hu-1 monovalent mRNA coronavirus disease 2019 vaccine. Our findings revealed that patients with SLE exhibited reduced avidity of anti-receptor-binding domain antibodies, leading to decreased neutralization potency and breadth.

An analysis of the nine top players in the U.S. fossil fuel-derived hydrocarbon industries (oil/gas, plastics, and agrichemicals) shows tight linkages across the three different sectors, with news media, other petrochemical industry players, and politicians also frequently tagged.

Until now, scientists believed this autoimmune response occurred because viral proteins mimicked the body's own proteins, confusing the immune system into attacking both. The Garvan team revealed that this is not the case—rather, the critical trigger is mutations in "rogue clone" B cells.

With limited experimental screening, we obtained protein designs with remarkable thermal stability, high binding affinity and near-atomic-level agreement with the computational models. The designed proteins effectively neutralized all three 3FTx subfamilies in vitro and protected mice from a lethal neurotoxin challenge. Such potent, stable and readily manufacturable toxin-neutralizing proteins could provide the basis for safer, cost-effective and widely accessible next-generation antivenom therapeutics.

Such experiences fit into a long, troubling tradition in medicine. Because there often aren’t conclusive tests for these types of complex chronic conditions, and because many patients do not outwardly appear unwell, they’re frequently told that they aren’t physically sick at all—that symptoms are all in their heads. “Mainstream medicine really isn’t geared toward treating conditions and diseases that it cannot see under a microscope,”

OP: @[email protected]

When water is depleted, the system is vulnerable to chemical contamination.

Academic journals, archives, and repositories are seeing an increasing number of questionable research papers clearly produced using generative AI. They are often created with widely available, general-purpose AI applications, most likely ChatGPT, and mimic scientific writing. Google Scholar easily locates and lists these questionable papers alongside reputable, quality-controlled research. 

In conclusion, we indicate that our approach to multi-modal ctDNA analysis using deep whole genome sequencing combined with TAPS detects cancer signals in early- and late-stage cancer with high accuracy. The next step will be to perform prospective studies in unselected consecutive cases to fully establish diagnostic performance.

Just to clean up existing legacy pollution in the UK, analysis has found it will cost an estimated £428m every year for the next 20 years, based on existing cost data. This would cover remediating contaminated soils, landfill leachate and to treat 5% of the drinking water in large water supply zones for just the two regulated PFAS compounds, PFOS and PFOA. These costs are conservative, as they only include decontamination costs, not socioeconomic costs or potential costs to the health system. It also assumes that PFAS emissions stop immediately.

The South African government has launched a rescue operation at an abandoned gold mine in the country’s North West province, where at least 109 men have died, a group representing the miners said, after local authorities cut off vital supplies in a dramatic bid to crack down on the country’s illegal mining trade.

The dust’s distribution isn’t uniform. Though this isn’t obvious at first glance, zooming in on the shells in Webb’s images reveals that some of the dust has “piled up,” forming amorphous, delicate clouds that are as large as our entire solar system. Many other individual dust particles float freely. Every speck is as small as one-hundredth the width of a human hair. Clumpy or not, all of the dust moves at the same speed and is carbon rich.

Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have created nanostructured alumina surfaces which are strongly antibacterial but can be used to culture cells. They found that anodic porous alumina (APA) surfaces prepared using electrochemistry in concentrated sulfuric acid had unprecedented resistance to bacterial growth, but did not hamper cell cultures.

Editor’s summary

The Legislative Decree, which implements a 2022 EU Directive, expands the definition of hazardous substances in the workplace to include not only carcinogens and mutagens but also reproductive toxins — those which may affect fertility, pregnancy, or neonatal health. The decree responds to growing scientific evidence showing that exposure to certain substances can lead to long-term health consequences, not just for the workers themselves but also for their children.

New research has found that 136 firefighters who were exposed to toxic smoke at Grenfell are now suffering from occupational diseases

In sum, our study presents a new approach for weakening older aversive memories during sleep. Notably, this benefit was achieved by introducing positive interference, followed by memory cueing during sleep.

One of the most important methods medieval physicians used to check on the health of their patients was their urine. The look, colour and smell of urine could reveal if the patient was sick.

Caplan syndrome, or rheumatoid pneumoconiosis, was traditionally associated primarily with coal dust exposure. However, it is now attributed to inorganic dust exposure from silica and asbestos industries, notably in construction and artificial stone manufacturing. Characterized by multiple peripheral lung nodules in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and pneumoconiosis, diagnosis of Caplan syndrome necessitates imaging and potential biopsy to exclude malignancy. Individuals with rheumatoid pneumoconiosis are often asymptomatic and experience symptoms only if the nodules grow and coalesce. Progressive massive fibrosis with scarring and architectural distortion of the lung parenchyma may also occur in these individuals. In some cases, the nodules cavitate and become secondarily infected.

Cement production is the second-largest industrial contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions, but its carbon footprint could be dramatically reduced with a new low-cost, scalable approach demonstrated at the University of Michigan.

Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) is characterized by the accumulation of surfactant material in alveoli. Few aPAP cases with a history of dust inhalation show both paves stone-like changes and micronodules in the chest CT scan.

Conclusions: WLL for artificial stone silicosis is safe in an expert centre who has experience in performing WLL in this population, and there may be limited benefit in selected patients. Further research is required to select those who will derive the most benefit.

Silicotuberculosis, the combination of silicosis and pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), remains a substantial clinical and public health problem in high TB burden countries with silica-exposed workforces.

A consortium including scientists from the Tropical Institute at LMU University Hospital has demonstrated the effectiveness of a new antibiotic. Tuberculosis is the most common infectious disease worldwide. In the year 2022 alone, there were 10.6 million new infections and 1.3 million deaths.

Dust from mines that settles on leaves impacts their function, impeding photosynthesis, light interception, nutrient availability, gas-energy exchange, plant-pathogen interactions, and causing physical damage.

Using transparent electrodes and electric fields, EDS technology can lift and remove dust from a variety of surfaces for space applications ranging from thermal radiators, solar panels, and camera lenses to spacesuits, boots, and helmet visors. Controlling and removing the charged dust will be critical to the success of Moon missions under the agency’s CLPS initiative and Artemis campaign.

Researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, in collaboration with colleagues in China, have discovered an antibody-like molecule that can protect mice from various influenza viruses. The findings could pave the way for new treatments and the development of broader influenza vaccines.

A company that produces stone products and its director have been fined a total of just under £20,000 after repeatedly failing to protect workers from exposure to Respirable Crystalline Silica (RCS).

Human bodies defend themselves using a diverse population of immune cells that circulate from one organ to another, responding to everything from cuts to colds to cancer. But plants don't have this luxury.

MPs and campaigners are demanding tougher measures to protect young tradespeople after the UK’s health and safety watchdog issued a major safety alert about a popular kitchen worktop material.

Using a national model that simulates connections between wastewater discharges and downstream drinking water intakes, we estimate that the sources of drinking water for up to 23 million Americans could be contaminated above regulatory thresholds by wastewater-derived PFAS alone. These results emphasize the importance of further curbing ongoing PFAS sources and additional evaluations of the fate and toxicity of fluorinated pharmaceuticals.

Stone workers are at risk of exposure to airborne particles of stone dust containing RCS when processing stone, including engineered stone, by cutting, chiselling and polishing. Over time, breathing in these silica particles can cause irreversible, life-changing and often fatal respiratory conditions such as silicosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and lung cancer.

A new family of protein-based antagonists has been created by researchers that efficiently block the granulocyte-colony stimulating factor receptor (G-CSFR), which is essential for the development of leukaemia and other inflammatory illnesses. This groundbreaking work paves the way for targeted therapies that could revolutionise treatment options for patients suffering from these conditions.

The duty to manage asbestos covers a wide range of buildings, some regulated by HSE and others regulated by our colleagues in local authorities. These visits will look at asbestos management in public buildings, including libraries, museums and leisure centres.

A common respiratory virus called human metapneumovirus, or HMPV, has been spreading in some countries in Asia, including China, India, Malaysia and Kazakhstan. Here’s what we know

Three miners are feared dead inside a flooded coal mine in the northeastern Indian state of Assam, with rescue efforts ongoing to save nine others.

The Roman Empire's pervasive influence once reached across land, sea, and even sky.

A research team from the University of California, Irvine has revealed a previously unknown mechanism that triggers an inflammatory immune response in cells when their DNA is damaged. This discovery deepens the understanding of a new type of cell signaling that may lead to more effective treatments for cancer.

Our results show that despite the recent introduction of BPaL/M, resistance to these new antituberculosis drugs has already developed in at least 27 countries across four continents. Furthermore, a quarter of these cases involved patient-to-patient transmission. Our findings call for improvements in diagnostic capacity, infection control, and surveillance, without which the longevity of BPaL/M is at risk.

Bits of DNA from mitochondria can skip surprisingly fast into our genome and may reduce lifespan

Silicosis typically has been classified as a chronic disease that develops after at least 10 years of exposure to silica dust, and often is associated with miners and stone workers. As industries have changed over time, other types of workers (including those in artificial stonework, jewelry polishing, and denim production) have become exposed to high levels of silica, leading to the development of acute and accelerated silicosis. Acute silicosis can develop in as little as a few months, and accelerated silicosis can develop in as little as 2 years.

For decades, the corporate makers and users of "forever chemicals" used on carpet produced in Northwest Georgia have hidden the associated dangers, leading to a public health crisis, Murray County alleges in a new lawsuit.

The results showed that compared to COVID-19 patients who had fully recovered, long COVID patients showed evidence of immune dysregulation and systemic inflammation, with the distribution of T cells exhibiting global differences indicative of continued immune responses. The cytolytic subsets also showed sex-specific signals.

The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board has unanimously approved a permanent standard to protect workers from respirable crystalline silica (RCS).

The report was published weeks after a ProPublica investigation found that the chemical causes more cancer than any other toxic air pollutant and can trigger asthma, miscarriages and fertility problems.

Health tourism was also a popular reason why people came to the seaside. Many ancient doctors recommended sea water and air as cures for all kinds of health problems, especially those related to the skin and respiratory system.

COVID-19 is a respiratory disease primarily affecting the lungs. However, the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 surprised doctors and scientists by causing an unusually large percentage of patients to experience vascular complications—issues related to blood flow, such as blood clots, heart attacks, and strokes.

2. Could mining change how we see the moon from Earth?

Statistics on the scale of this issue are becoming as well known as they are shocking. Estimates put the number of modern slavery victims at almost 50 million globally – including those in forced labour or living in forced marriages. Of these, 17.3 million are being forced to work by private businesses, with nearly 4 million in forced labour imposed by state authorities. More than 3.3 million of those in forced labour are children.

NAIROBI: Kenyan officials said Wednesday they were investigating fragments of metal, believed to be from a rocket, that crashed into a village in the country’s south.

Micro/nanoplastics (MNPs), plastic particles and fibers with sizes ranging from nanometers (≥ 1 nm) to micrometers (≤ 5 mm) have become emerging environmental pollutants and are widely distributed across various ecosystems worldwide. These tiny plastic particles not only pose a threat to marine ecosystems, but also present new challenges to terrestrial ecosystems. However, research on terrestrial MNPs lagged behind marine studies.

Outrage Fatigue Is Real. Here's Why We Feel It and How to Cope

Exposure to bat guano among cannabis growers appears to be a recent trend that can lead to histoplasmosis cases and outbreaks. It is crucial to raise awareness among physicians and patients to reinforce personal preventive measures and establish timely diagnosis. Commercial biofertilizers containing bat guano should be tested for H capsulatum before reaching the market. If testing is not feasible, risk mitigation strategies should be implemented.

Australian bosses could go to jail for 10 years and be fined $1.65 million if they "deliberately" underpay their workers, as part of new laws that nationally criminalise wage theft from January 1.

In conclusion, the prevalence of pneumoconiosis with CTD was as high as 13.8%, while that of asbestosis and silicosis was 18.3% and 11.4%, respectively.

Constructed in the 1990s and measuring some 600 miles, the tunnels provide flood control for the city and outlying communities. Homeless outreach workers said 1,200 to 1,500 people live in them. Many have constructed elaborate shelters, often out of plywood and scraps of metal or brick below the casinos that define the Strip.

The synthetic chemicals are especially harmful because they're nearly indestructible and can build up in various environments, including the human body. In addition to cancers and immune system problems, exposure to certain levels of PFAS has been linked to increased cholesterol levels, reproductive health issues and developmental delays in children, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

One of the largest sandsculpture installations in the world, this exhibit boasts a unique combination of sprawling sand scenes, theological musings, and salvaged shipwrecks.

It’s worrying to read studies that show just how far microplastics can travel within our bodies.

Accordingly, while this subset appears necessary for the development of fibrosis, its presence is not sufficient. Overall, our findings support a broader paradigm wherein recruited macrophages express a conserved injury response program following loss of tissue homeostasis. Their progression to tissue resident macrophage–like programming and numerical decline support rapid resolution of injury, while failure of these 2 elements contributes to persistent inflammation and pathologic fibrotic repair.

During the Apollo era, astronauts discovered just how annoying and potentially dangerous lunar dust is. These tiny pieces of fractured, glass-like regolith get everywhere, in equipment and even astronaut lungs. When NASA returns to the Moon with its Artemis program, the problem of dust will return. If we stay on the Moon for a long time, researchers will need to develop technologies to clear away the dust and prevent it from getting inside machinery, habitats, and lungs.

A new method of scanning lungs is able to show the effects of treatment on lung function in real time and enable experts to see the functioning of transplanted lungs.

We have published a set of videos highlighting the twin issues of silicosis and hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS).

While it’s rare to be diagnosed with the condition—fewer than 200 clinical cases have been officially reported since 1955, mainly in children, and it doesn’t appear in any mainstream diagnostic handbooks—Alice-like symptoms appear to be relatively common. One survey study published in 1999 found that some 30 percent of participants had experienced at least one kind of visual distortion in their life. And around 16 percent of migraine patients in a recent study also reported symptoms of Alice in Wonderland syndrome throughout their life. Some researchers have theorized that Carroll experienced these symptoms himself because he was known to experience migraines.

File this under 'That's not supposed to happen!'. In an experiment, scientists observed a metal healing itself. If this process can be fully understood and controlled, we could be at the start of a whole new era of engineering.

In this video, the ACS Reactions team tests different Christmas tree watering conditions, including an internet recipe that supposedly fireproofs your Christmas tree with borax, to investigate the science behind preventing these fires.

Raynaud's phenomenon, sometimes called Raynaud's syndrome or disease, is a disorder of blood circulation in the fingers and toes (and less commonly of the ears and nose). This condition is aggravated by exposure to cold. When a person has Raynaud's phenomenon, exposure to cold abnormally reduces blood circulation, causing the skin to become pale, waxy-white or purple. The disorder is sometimes called "white finger", "wax finger" or "dead finger."